Citizens information provides valuable information on citizen’s rights, and there are some unique supports available to farmers, including Farm Assist and the Rural Social Scheme, both programmes that can be of valuable help to low-income farmers.
Farm Assist is a weekly means-tested payment, and can also lead to the farmer becoming eligible for the Rural Social scheme.
To qualify for Farm Assist, you must be a farmer, farming land in Ireland, aged between 18 and 66, and you must pass a means test.
You are considered a farmer whether you own or lease, as long as you use it for farming, either animals or tillage. It is not sufficient for a person simply to own a farm of land.
The current maximum rate of Farm Assist is €244 per week. There are also increases for an adult dependants (€162), for child dependants under 12 (€50 full-rate, €25 half-rate), and child dependents aged between 12 and 18 (€62 full-rate, and €31 half-rate).
Means Test
In a means test, the Department of Social Protection examines all your sources of income. To get Farm Assis, your income must be below a certain amount.
Some of the items assessed in the means test are the cash income that you or your spouse, civil partner, or cohabitant may have, including income from employment as well as the income and direct payments from certain farm schemes. There is some cash income not included in the means test, and the Citizens Information Service in Bantry can help any West Cork residents with queries on this.
Other items assess included capital finance, for example, the value of savings, investments, shares or any property you have, but not your own home. The first €20,000 of your capital is not taken into account. Any maintenance paid to you will also be assessed. More details on this can be found on the government website, gov.ie.
If you have leased part of your land, the income from the leasing is assessed in full and none of it is disregarded. If you have leased all your land, you are not eligible for Farm Assist.
Other Supports
To apply for Farm Assist, you should complete the application form, which you can download or pick up from your local Citizens Information Centre or Social Welfare Office. There are also some extra supports which may be available to you are getting Farm Assist, depending on your circumstances such as the fuel allowance, a medical card, the ‘Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance’, and the Rural Social Scheme.
Rural Social Scheme
The Rural Social Scheme is aimed at low-income farmers and fishermen and women. In the scheme, you get a ‘top-up’ payment in return for providing services to the community, of 19.5 hours a week. These hours are based on a farmer-friendly schedule so participation in the scheme does not affect your farming activities. Work under the scheme can include maintaining walking routes and bog roads, social care and care of older people, community care for pre-school, and after-school groups.
To qualify for Rural Social Scheme you must either be getting Farm Assist or be actively farming and getting another social welfare payment, such as Jobseekers Allowance or Disability Allowance. To prove you are actively farming you must provide confirmation of your application for the Basic Payments Scheme for the current year, and a valid herd number. If you are eligible but do not wish to participate in the Rural Social Scheme, your dependent spouse, civil partner or cohabitant can take the available place instead.
If you are a child or the sibling of a herd number owner, and you can certify that you are resident and/or working on the farm and you are getting one of the qualifying social welfare payments, you may be eligible to participate in the Rural Social Scheme on the basis of your parent’s or sibling’s herd number.
Other Social Welfare Payments
A self-employed farmer usually pays Class S PRSI, which covers you for payments such as maternity, adoptive, and paternity benefit, the widow’s, widower’s or surviving civil partner’s contributory pension, the contributory state pension, the treatment benefit scheme, and invalidity pension.
For further information, contact the local Citizens Information Service in Bantry in-person or by telephone on 0818 07 8390. The West Cork helpline is at 0818 07 8390; the offices are staffed from 10am to 5pm from Monday to Thursday and on Friday from 10am to 4pm. Alternatively, you can email on [email protected] or log on to the Citizens Information website.
